When change is on the agenda
Series: Metamorphosis | Bible text: Colossians 1:6
Experiencing metamorphosis. Life between «I nimm es wie’s chunnt!» and my wishes for change. «This good news that has reached you is spreading throughout the world. Everywhere it is changing people’s lives, just as it changed yours from the moment you heard and knew the truth about God’s grace» (Colossians 1:6 NL).
Change – that’s a terrible word for some people, because they love it when everything continues in the usual style. «Just no change – please!» Others, however, love change. My wife recently revealed to me that she would like to rearrange the living room. In the meantime, that has already happened! You might be due for a new mattress – you don’t sleep so well anymore. Or a new hairstyle – maybe with a bit of colour; or maybe you’re crying out for new clothes, a new mobile phone, a bigger TV… Ok, these are all peanuts, but what if something should change in your life? If you can’t move forward in your faith, then it becomes more difficult!
But Paul encourages us. He writes to the Colossians: This good news that has reached you is spreading throughout the world. Everywhere it is changing people’s lives, just as it changed yours from the moment you heard and knew the truth about God’s grace» (Colossians 1:6 NL). If you have met Jesus Christ and have understood and received his message, then this is the starting point of a lifelong metamorphosis. What has Jesus already changed in your life? Now that would be interesting to hear some reports! Maybe you haven’t noticed any change in yourself yet. Or Jesus has already changed something in you that you have realised. Or the people around you have observed changes in you that you yourself were not aware of. Think about it in a quiet minute.
This week I heard the testimony of a felon who became known as the «Bible Smoker». He was in prison for 148 offences. The first thing he did was to ask the priest for a Bible. Not because he wanted to read it, but he wanted to roll his cigarettes with the ideally thin paper. But he read every torn out page before he smoked them. But he hated God and did not understand the Bible at all. He was a difficult prisoner. Constantly involved in fights and if he didn’t like the food, he threw it in a guard’s face. In the loneliness of solitary confinement, one day he challenged God: «God, if you are greater than me and you really exist, then you must change me. I can’t and I don’t want to». After weeks, a fellow prisoner said to him: «Tell me, are you sick? You don’t have fights anymore and your food doesn’t fly around the dining hall! What’s wrong?» «I was talking to God, about me and my life.» «Whaasss…? Then you are really sick!»
God totally changed the Bible smoker and today he preaches and shares his impressive testimony everywhere. God has unlimited possibilities to meet people, even behind thick prison walls, until they say yes to him, accept the forgiveness in Jesus and let him be the centre of their lives. There are people who say: «I cannot become a Christian yet. I still have too many construction sites in my life. Things still have to change before I’m ready.»
If these are your words, then I would like to make a suggestion to you: Turn your programme upside down! First let Jesus into your life and take him with you to your construction sites. He has experience with human construction sites, because he himself was a human being and «chunnt druus! Let Jesus into the problem areas of your life. He is the Saviour who can help and heal.
Is change on the way or are you living with the handbrake on?
There is a great danger that we will a Change, which we desire, stiffen and stubbornly, not even noticing that God is at another point in our lives! A nudge from God in the right direction can help. Such a nudge can be many things: a flash of inspiration, a word of the Bible – that knocks your socks off; an illness; a sermon – that has affected you; an accident; a dismissal; an impossible climate at work; a frank word from someone close to you; a retreat into silence – and suddenly it releases the button for you! In this list I think of a very successful pastor. He preached, planted a church, founded a centre for drug addicts and the homeless, set up a rehabilitation centre for men in another town and also a women’s shelter for victims of violence and abuse. In his private life, he was occupied by his son, who had an incurable muscle disease and died at the age of 18. Suddenly his wife was so damaged in the back that she changed from an active, lively woman to a disabled person. He became more and more preoccupied with other things that he got the impression that he was a pastor with the handbrake on. One day God reminded him of the Bible verse «You shall be my witnesses.«And he realised that this was also true for him in this completely different situation. You can be a witness for Jesus in ups and downs, in difficulties and in success – as long as you hold on to Jesus. The realisation filled him with deep peace. Are you struggling with God because you had imagined growth and change in a completely different way?
You must not forget: God has a very nasty adversary who wants to prevent or set back everything that God changes for the good. Not just three fields back or back to the start, no, if possible back to the start of the new life! Paul gives us a good tip: «Do not be confused by any thought constructs and lofty nonsense that do not come from Christ! They are only based on human thinking and spring from the evil powers of this world». (Colossians 2:8 NL). Jesus responded to the temptations of the enemy with God’s Word. Let us do the same with a word from John: «For everyone who is born of God triumphs over the world. This victory is made possible for us by our faith: it is he who has triumphed over the world» (1 John 5:4).
Change often comes from silence before God. How often Jesus withdrew to talk in silence with His heavenly Father! Go into His presence with open ears and listen to Him; let Him change you! I know, silence – that is such a pious and actually impossible word in a world where everything is going crazy! But we have no alternative! If you want to hear Jesus in your everyday life, there is only one thing to do: retreat, be quiet and listen to His voice. The Holy Spirit is sometimes so quiet that in everyday life the danger of overhearing him is quite great. It would be easier if he would give us a good (sorry!) «Ging is Füdli».
We have another problem, which is often even bigger than simply being quiet before God. We see so sharply and clearly what God should still change in others! And often we exalt ourselves over such people and get angry with them. Jesus says to this:
«You see the mote in your opponent’s eye, but you don’t see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite!» Jesus could dish it out quite well. But some people need that. How would Jesus challenge the audience today?
Jesus is and remains changing us
and to transform it into his image
Jesus would also like to initiate a metamorphosis in all people today! So that egoism, greed, jealousy, the desire for power and prestige would have to make room for joy, the ability to love, courage and generosity. Room for genuineness and true love, for peace and patience. Room for good relations with one another; room for cohesion and mercy. Sensitivity for others and for the circumstances around them. Jesus really has a lot in mind for us. This could be a stumbling block for people, which is why Peter emphasises: «But you are different, because you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, God’s holy people, his personal possession. So you are a living example of God’s goodness, for he has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light» (1 Peter 2:9 NL). We are different as Christians, that’s how it is. But we are far from having reached our goal.
Until Jesus comes again and takes us into his kingdom, we still have time to let him change us. Jesus has promised us that he will stay with us! «He who began the good work with us will also complete it». (Philippians 1:6). He not only changes us for us, but that we may his light and his salt are in this world. That is what being changed by Jesus is all about. That we are a living witness to him. To represent him in this world. That people become aware of Jesus.
Someone who has been made aware of Jesus Christ by Christians is the atheist Matthew Parris, a well-known English journalist. As an Africa expert, he wrote a remarkable article in an online edition of Times some time ago. The headline of the article was, «As an atheist, I am convinced Africa needs God.» He writes: «Missionaries, not development funds, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – namely, the crushing passivity in the minds of the people!» He justifies his opinion thus, «Well, I am a self-confessed atheist, but I have become convinced of the enormous contribution of Christian evangelism in Africa. Their work is fundamentally different from the work of secular non-governmental organisations, government projects and international development aid. All these activities are not enough. Training and guidance alone are also not enough. In Africa, it is Christianity that changes people’s hearts. It brings about a spiritual transformation. This rebirth is real and the change is good!» What a testimony from an atheist! Honest and open. He has met African Christians, looked them in the eye and comes to this impression!
Jesus does not only want to change ourselves. He wants to be seen in us, here in Aargau or wherever we are. People should be able to see in us what Jesus can do. He also wants to change others through us. To start the process of change in more people. We are needed in this day and age! Your life as a Christian is of inestimable value for others! Are you sufficiently aware of this? It is not about making a big splash and celebrating successes, but about coping with our everyday life in the greatest possible dependence on Jesus and thus letting something of the nature of our Lord and Master shine into our surroundings. Let Jesus show you your weak points and stay open for change. Jesus remains with us, with you, with me, with all of us.
Amen.
Possible questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: Colossians 1:6
- Basically, are you a person who loves change, or do you tend to stick to the status quo?
- Tell each other how Jesus has already changed you in your journey with him so far.
- Have you ever been «stuck» on a change request that God didn’t grant you?
- Can you retreat from time to time to consciously listen to God and talk to him?
- Why do we see much better in others what should be different in them than in ourselves?
- What are our most appealing qualities as Christians that we can radiate without the bitter taste of wanting to be better than other people?
